General Fiction
Plot: In volume 2 of Diorio's Italian Chronicles series, her characters are forced to migrate from Italy to the New World. Diorio delivers an affecting immigration story, though plot developments are somewhat hastily presented and resolved.
Prose/Style: The author writes impressively well, with smooth prose that conjures both a sense of the historical era and the characters' harrowing experiences. The narrative is finely detailed, albeit at times oversimplified.
Originality: While stories of immigration are familiar, the author succeeds in personalizing the journey for readers, with visceral descriptions of an impoverished life in 19th-century Brooklyn. Diorio excels at sensitively exploring the unsettling experience of relocation.
Character Development: Readers would benefit from first reading Diorio's previous novel, The Madonna of Pisano, in order to better understand the characters and their origins. This novel focuses more readily on the experiences of Luca, whose mannerisms and way of speaking can come across as overly subdued and dispassionate. Nevertheless, the author establishes a rich sense of community and an authentic representation of a family adjusting to a new life and its challenges.
Plot: The plot could use some more attention to backstory and worldbuilding. The boy grows up; the father and son become estranged; the boy has his first and continuing gay relationships. He enters therapy to discover and better understand what happened when he was a young boy.
Prose/Style: The prose is straightforward and smooth, with few errors. The story is told chronologically. The story engages the reader, but the prose feels a bit journalistic, or more like a memoir.
Originality: This novel is a coming out story, the tale of a strained and finally estranged relationship between a father and a son. This particular situation feels new to the genre.
Character Development: The reader may not understand the characters well enough due to a lack of emotional detail from some characters. Anthony feels genuine enough in his adult life - and relationships - with other men to empathize with.
Plot: Catapulted into a premature grave due to an inoperable brain tumor, a young woman bonds with her family and fulfills her wish to die with dignity. Euthanasia, a legally prohibited method of ending terminal illness in most states, propels this tragic story into a moral spotlight.
Prose/Style: At the heart of this poignant novel is physician-assisted suicide, a contested moral issue that manifests itself at every opportunity throughout the narrative. Thought-provoking and inherently mournful, words flow like confessional teardrops from an infinite fountain of sadness.
Originality: Frank discussions of death appear in commercial as well as literary works of fiction, and the final phase of the human experience depicted in this novel deals a heavy blow to the psyche. Medical descriptions, graphic personal details, and straightforward reactions to physical deterioration can be found in countless books.
Character Development: A terminally ill woman is the protagonist in this touching portrayal of a cancer patient losing her battle with the disease. Heartbreaking, with a message for those who suffer, each page renders the heroine more real, allowing an intimate look at a beautiful life ending too soon.
BOULDER COUNTY: Crime, Love, and Cannabis, West of the 100th Meridian
by Marc KrulewitchRating: 6.25
Plot: By focusing on a cannabis farmer, Krulewitch provides an immediately compelling premise, following through with unexpected developments and insights into the commodification of marijuana and the resulting conflicts.
Prose/Style: The prose is stylistically frank and sparse. The author's ability to convey emotion and depth while maintaining cohesiveness and concision, is no short of impressive.
Originality: The real originality in the novel lies not in this novel's actual plot--there is a vast library of books about bootleg drugs. Here, though, Krulewitch offers electric storytelling and a host of dynamic characters, allowing for familiar topics to feel new again.
Character Development: As with the prose rating, the novel is particularly strong here, with the flawed characters being both likable and unlikable at once, neither savior nor destroyer entirely, and always someone the reader can truly relate to. The characters speak with organic and realistic language, with their own sense of humor and agency. In this sense, Krulewitch is particularly gifted in both writing and world-building.
Plot: This is a compelling and well-paced story, and it would have been ten times stronger had it not been filtered through the lens of the "Pride and Prejudice" universe. Putting the "Pride and Prejudice" characters into another era is already a dicey proposition, but to cast Elizabeth Bennet in a love story with anyone other than Darcy is playing with fire.
Prose/Style: This sprawling family epic manages to pack several generations of a huge extended family into four hundred pages and dozens of subplots, but the details never feel overwhelming or hard to parse thanks to the author's polished, confident prose.
Originality: This is a plot formula, and a time period, that has been done before in hundreds of novels, and again, the purposeless "Pride and Prejudice" allegory does it no favors. Still, arcs like Georgina Darcy's forbidden romance with a Jewish factory worker and the story of Ben's unorthodox parentage lend freshness.
Character Development: While some supporting characters feel slightly wooden, most are nuanced, and their evolution is well-paced and believable. Some reveals feel deliberately withheld for dramatic effect, but for the most part, the rich backstories of both Ben and his father ring true.
Plot: Surprisingly, the third book in this series offers a highly intriguing plot, as does not often happen with sequels. While still fast-paced, this installment was more thoroughly developed and emotional than A Sicilian Farewell, deepening and enriching the overarching narrative.
Prose: The author's heavy use of interrogative sentences and rhetorical cliff hangers is rather distracting. More variety in structure would benefit the book as a whole.
Originality: The narrative here falls in line with the previous two books, following a set path. The conflict in the story carries over from the previous installment. Certain conflicts, however, are new to the story and emerge somewhat abruptly. Regardless, the novel concludes on a satisfying note; though certain aspects of the novel are unresolved and open to imagination, this is in no way a detriment.
Character Development: While readers already engaged in the series will embrace the return of the characters, the novel deviates from rational character development in some respects. Notably, the work pins plot-convenient traits to individuals, somewhat reducing their complexity. Without precedent, Nico is turned into an irrational 'adult' who refuses to understand Maria's point of view, the hurt she has endured, and especially why she would be weary of Don Franco's re-entry into their lives. Maria is made almost hysterical and Luca is reduced to a two-dimensional being who had lost his empathy.
Plot: In “Flygirl,” Kardon tells a straightforward story about one woman aspiring to fulfill her professional dreams, as she grapples with overwhelming regrets and loss. While the nuances of Tris’s path toward becoming a plane captain can be banal, interpersonal conflicts and the heroine’s clear aspirations result in a satisfying narrative arc.
Prose/Style: Kardon writes in even, pragmatic prose that efficiently—if unremarkably—carries the story forward to its conclusion.
Originality: Though the story of a professional woman struggling to succeed in a male-dominated field is a familiar one, Kardon shows a clear understanding of the world of commercial airlines and effectively captures the unique experience of operating an aircraft.
Character Development: Kardon creates a relatable heroine in Tris, a character who, along with her grit and determination to succeed, displays a range of authentic emotions and vulnerabilities. Additional characters—including patronizing and dysfunctional colleagues—are portrayed with less subtlety.
MAROONED: Will YOU Endure Treachery and Survival on the High Seas? (Click Your Poison)
by James SchannepRating: 5.75
Plot: This book has three storylines and more than 50 endings. Does the reader, as a character, wish to survive or die? The choices are quite endless, but the plot itself is a bit thin. Some of the segments may be used in more than one story.
Prose/Style: The writing is fluid, with occasional grammatical errors that would be alleviated by a light proofread. The use of archaic and current seafaring terms helps put the reader into the scene.
Originality: Certainly, this is extremely clever and quite a feat in the way the endings and beginnings are organized.
Character Development: While the characters are colorful, they are somewhat stereotypical of ship's captains and mates and of pirates. They partake in some bawdy activities and sometimes speak coarsely. They are quite one-dimensional, and the reader doesn't get to know them intimately.
Plot: The plot itself is engaging, and the final twist is satisfying to read. The story’s twist, while gripping, appears fairly late in the book, and isn’t affirmed until the very last chapter of the novel.
Prose/Style: The dialogue reads very realistically – especially the exchanges between the children, Lonnie and Nell. Edwards is clearly attuned to her characters’ voices. The sentences, however, can be long-winded, sometimes without proper punctuation to break up the excess of clauses. An overuse of articles and transitional words (“so,” “and,” “but,” etc.) make it difficult to follow the action of each scene.
Originality: This is a general storyline that many fans of the thriller/mystery genre will recognize. With a bit more fine-tuning of character perspectives – expanding on specific psychologies, personal hang-ups, and idiosyncrasies – Edwards can develop the story’s originality even more.
Character Development: The text doesn’t seem to be rooted in one specific person’s perspective. The third-person omniscient narration grazes the surface of many characters’ POVs at once, failing to delve deeply into any detailed thoughts and musings.
Plot: While the plot has interesting elements, so many different elements seem to be competing for the center stage: There is the front story of the relic and Alice, then her relationship with her husband and her secret pregnancy, then the backstory of his family. While it does coalesce, overall it still feels a bit too widespread to truly come together. Readers might have a difficult time parsing out the key elements of the narrative.
Prose/Style: The prose is a bit old-fashioned, even twee at times, which rubbed the wrong way. It almost sounded older than it needed to be, and while it’s certainly trying to emulate a time period, readers might be too distracted by the antiquated language to really get invested in the characters and plot.
Originality: This is definitely an original story for most readers today, thanks to the narration; that said, it does introduce questions into the plot that are distracting, such as how the narrator knew all of the information and backstory they did, and why exactly such large portions of each section were dedicated to sharing it.
Character Development: The characters in this story could use some more dimension to be believable - this could be due to the detached narration (characters are repeatedly introduced as “the man” or “the woman,” which makes it difficult to connect or picture them), or their dialogue, which often feels forced.
Plot: The plot here is succinct. Its division between the experiences of Donald D. Rump and Vladimir Poutine drives the narrative forward. However, the overall delivery of events, though based on some real-life happenings, may not elicit the comedic effect desired.
Prose/Style: While the piece was quite short, Trebor’s prose was developed and easy to follow. The use of dialogue and exposition was integrated throughout, though perhaps heavier on the dialogue end. Frequency of dialogue exchange was not overly distracting, however, but rather helped move the story to its conclusion.
Originality: Trebor’s satirical piece is based on real events in some cases, which made this lack in originality in terms of events or plot. However, his imaginings of conversations and events were original and innovative.
Character Development: Characterization was presented well overall. Dialogue, exposition, and style worked together to equip each main character with distinct qualities, ways of speaking, and mannerisms. However, the minor characters were not very distinct from one another. This did not detract too much from reading the piece, however. An element that could be improved upon is creating empathy between reader and characters. Developing that aspect could make this a stronger piece that resonates better with readers.
Disqualified because originally published by a traditional publisher.
Disqualified due to word count under 30,000.
